A tanker with a storage capacity of two million barrels of oil burst off the coast of Delta state in southern Nigeria, generating fears of an environmental calamity and concerns for the crew’s safety.
Following the blast a day earlier, the Trinity Spirit was encased in flames, according to Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL). According to the operator’s website, the floating production, storage, and offloading vessel can process up to 22,000 barrels of oil per day.
VIDEO: SEPCOL’s oil production vessel explodes in Niger Delta pic.twitter.com/5X37nbXXVU
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The tanker was docked at the Ukpokiti Terminal, which is located on the Niger Delta’s oil-rich coast.
Joe Sunday, an assistant boat driver, claimed he was in one of the two speedboats out at sea on Wednesday morning to pick up some crew members who were supposed to have time off but couldn’t since the vessel had caught fire.
“We went around to check if we could spot individuals, but we didn’t see anyone, and the fire was still blazing,” Sunday said at a Warri port to the Reuters news agency.
Tiby Tea, chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority’s Maritime Union in Warri, said that two boats dispatched to the vessel were unable to locate anyone.
“At this moment, no fatalities have been confirmed,” SEPCOL Chief Executive Ikemefuna Okafor said in a statement. “However, we can confirm that there were ten crewmen on board the vessel before to the event.”
According to him, an inquiry is underway to ascertain the reason of the mishap, and the company is striving to “contain the problem.”
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) reported the explosion caused a “large fire” and that it has “begun inquiries into the event.”
“The commission will take all necessary steps to ensure that all safety and environmental safeguards… are in place to protect lives and the environment,” stated spokesperson Paul Osu.
Nigeria’s National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) head, Idris Musa, told the AFP news agency that they were also on the scene responding to the situation.
Environmentalists, on the other hand, were concerned about the possible consequences.
“There will undoubtedly be a spill,” said Mike Karikpo of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, a local non-governmental organisation.
“This is a plant that processes more than 20,000 barrels per day… The oil will spread to the neighbouring areas.”
The oil-rich Niger Delta region has accounted for the vast majority of Nigeria’s earnings since the 1970s.
However, decades of environmental deterioration have had a multiplier impact in the region, eroding livelihoods and depriving communities of basic necessities like clean drinking water. Many species have been extinct as a result of the area’s mangroves and marshes, and the average human life expectancy in the Delta is 10 years lower than elsewhere in Nigeria.
Despite being Africa’s greatest petroleum producer, Nigeria’s operational expenses are expensive due to frequent accidents and widespread instability, despite the fact that the majority of incidents occur on land.
In the past, there have been attacks on oil sites, including piercing pipelines to steal crude oil and an increase in kidnappings for ransom.
Nigerian pirates are also active in the wider, resource-rich Gulf of Guinea region, affecting shipping from Senegal to Angola.
